Archers make SA proud as they secure silver in Turkey

Updated: June 2, 2015

South African archers have once again shot their way to success, this time with silver at a World Cup event in Antalya, Turkey, writes Mark Etheridge.After the tournament’s top two seeds had been shocked in the first round, the compound mixed team event was blown wide open and Gabriel Badenhorst and Jeanine van Kradenburg were quick to take the gap.
After shooting the highest score of the first round matches, a mark of 158, the just got past Italy by a one-point margin in the quarts.
The semi-finals were a lot more comfortable as they beat Slovenia by four points.
That saw them netting the nation’s first outdoor medal and final since the Belek 2013 World Championships when the compound men’s team had won silver.
In the final against Denmark, Badenhorst and Van Kradenburg were up against it immediately after a wayward six at the first end left them with everything to do.
A three-point deficit became four after a perfect 40 from Stephan Hansenand Tanja Jensen.
They clawed their way back with two more points in the last series but a final arrow in the nine from Hansen was enough to decide gold by a single point – final score 152-151.
Said national archery President Selwyn Moskowitz: ‘Our pool of high performance archers has increased significantly over the past year. Our world ranking is not an indication of our international performance because we participate and compete in very few international competitions due to lack of funds. Because of the limited funds we have increased our qualification levels, maximising the possibility of earning medals.’
Next up are World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark from 26 July-2 August, the first Olympic qualifier for Rio 2016.